"I knew I had been raped " - Bosnia between 1992 and 1994Mood: sadNow Playing: Radovan Karadzic = Rapist will be at International Criminal TribunalTopic: TORTURE

Z3 Report Readers

I found this article today at this link. I am shocked and sick to read how this can go on. This ws not an isolated situtation .... <7/22/08>

Sex slave:

'Every day we were raped'

Story Highlights

Bosnian Muslim woman was raped daily while held by Serb soldiers during war

Jasmina says she begged for late-term abortion of attacker's baby after she escaped

Still traumatized, she says she never wants to return to her former home city

But Bosnian government policy may send her back there, she fears

By Rachel ClarkeCNN

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (CNN) -- The outbreak of war seemed like a joke to Jasmina, then just 19 years old. She dreamed of being an economist and says she played with her toddler son and baby daughter as if they were toys.

But in April 1992, the Serb soldiers took over her city of Bijeljina, in northeast Bosnia near the border with Serbia, and began to kill, torture and terrorize the Muslims there in a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing.

"Whole families were disappearing during the night. Sometimes we could see their bodies in the gardens, sometimes not even that," Jasmina told CNN.

"The men from my family were beaten up the first day. ... My mother just disappeared. I never found out what happened."

Paramilitaries loyal to Arkan, the Serbian ultranationalist later indicted for crimes against humanity, came to the home Jasmina shared with her husband and extended family to search for valuables and weapons. When they found no guns they started beating her husband, said Jasmina who asked CNN not to use her last name to protect her children.

"Then they started torturing me. I lost consciousness. When I woke up I was totally naked and covered in blood and my sister-in-law was also naked and covered in blood. ... I knew I had been raped and my sister-in-law too." In a corner, she saw her mother-in-law, holding her children and crying.

"That same day we were locked in our house. That was the worst, the worst period of my whole life. That's when it started.

"Every day we were raped. Not only in the house -- they would also take us to the front line for the soldiers to torture us. Then again in the house, in front of the children," Jasmina said through a translator, remembering the 10 other women who were brutalized with her.

"I was in such a bad condition that sometimes I couldn't even recognize my own children. Even though I was in a very bad physical condition they had no mercy at all. They raped me every day. They took me to the soldiers and back to that house.

"The only conversation we had was when I was begging them to kill me. That's when they laughed. Their response was 'we don't need you dead.'"

Once at the front line there were women soldiers who tortured her with a bottle and then slashed at her throat and wrist when it broke. Then the troops cut one of her breasts with a bayonet, said Jasmina, now looking older than her 35 years.

"It lasted for a year. Every day. ... Not all the women survived."

Tens of thousands of women were raped in Bosnia and the other parts of the former Yugoslavia between 1992 and 1994 during the rule of

Karadzic was captured this week after years on the run and now will face war crimes charges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. The tribunal, set up to try war crimes suspects, established for the first time that rape was a crime against humanity and that rape was "used by members of the Bosnian Serb armed forces as an instrument of terror."

For Jasmina, some relief came one day in 1993 when a familiar face, an older Serb who had been a friend of her parents, appeared at the house where she was being kept. Jasmina was told he had bought her as a prostitute but, once in a car with him, the man said he was saving her. "I owe this to your parents," he said.

He drove Jasmina and her children to the front lines, gave something to the Serb soldiers there and directed her towards the Bosnian position, saying "Now you are free to go."

"I was very weak, I weighed only 45 kilos [99 pounds]. I carried both my children for more than a kilometer to the Bosnian side."

Jasmina was safe, but scarred. "I felt ashamed, I wanted to die, to disappear somehow. I couldn't take care of my children, others did that, I just didn't have the strength or the will."

A new low came when doctors began to treat her in one of the refugee centers around the city of Tuzla.

"They discovered that I was pregnant, six months pregnant and I didn't know that. It was too late for any abortion, but I kept saying I didn't want that child."

The gynecologist pleaded with Jasmina to have the child and give it up for adoption, saying it was too dangerous to try anything else. But that was no option for Jasmina. "I didn't want to hear about that, about giving birth to that child at all."

Finally, medics said they could try to abort the child but it was a very risky operation that only 1 in 100 women would survive. "I begged them to do it," Jasmina said, pausing to remember an 18-year-old girl who had the same operation on the same day as her and died. Jasmina herself continues to have gynecological health problems stemming from her abuse.

Months later, her husband arrived at the same refugee center after managing to escape a camp in Serbia. A man he broke out with was killed by a mine.

"It was such a difficult moment for me. I wasn't even sure if I wanted him to be dead or alive. I knew that he knew what had happened to me so it was very, very difficult for me," Jasmina said.

"I thought he was going to leave me and take my children because of everything that happened. But he told me he was not going to ask me about anything. And that he also went through terrible things himself so he didn't want to discuss anything." Yet still she says she cannot look her husband in the eye.

Jasmina said she was unable to talk to the therapists in Tuzla and tried to kill herself in 1995 -- the first of three suicide attempts.

"I will never be OK," she said, adding that she believes God kept her alive for a reason.

She now lives in a modestly furnished apartment in a tower block in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina. She has been there since 2001 with her husband and children.

Her dreams now are for her children. She believes it's critical she give them some stability, but says that's impossible when she doesn't know from day to day if she will be evicted.

She does not own the apartment and all property must be returned to rightful owners under the terms of an annex to the U.S.-brokered peace agreement that ended the war.

The same pact allows for the return of all refugees and displaced people -- more than half of the country's people left their homes during the war according to the International Organization for Migration -- and the re-establishment of the mixed ethnic communities that had lived peacefully for centuries before the war.

The Office of the High Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina, an international body set up to oversee the implementation of the peace agreements, says almost all property rights have been restored. But it is impossible to say how many people have gone home and how many have sold their houses, leaving cities and towns like Bijeljina "ethnically cleansed" as the warmongers had planned.

A law enacted in September 2006 does include a section that homes should be provided for victims of sexual torture during the war. It is not clear who should implement the act and there is no agency making sure the law is enforced, according to the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees.

Meanwhile, authorities say Jasmina should return to her mother-in-law's rebuilt house in Bijeljina. But she says she will never go back to the place where she lost 39 members of her family and where her abuse began.

It is a fear shared by other women, according to Alisa Muratcaus, the president of the Association of Concentration Camp Survivors -- Canton Sarajevo -- a group that offers classes and other support to Jasmina and 1,200 other women around the capital, including 150 victims of mass rape.

"Many of our members must deal with the realities of return. Not all members are able psychologically to return to regions in which they suffered such extreme human rights abuses," she told CNN.

"No one raped women has returned to their pre-war houses, since it is immoral and inhuman to request their return while the war criminals who tortured them are still free and live in these regions."

The Sarajevo municipality that owns Jasmina's apartment says it does not plan to evict her and that any such directive would come from the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees.

Saliha Djuderija, head of the Ministry's Department of Human Rights, said she was aware of victims who could not face returning to the places where they were tortured and was working on a solution. In the last couple of years, between 15 and 20 women have been given somewhere to live, but lack of funding is restricting the help that can be given. Priority was given to women who testified against their attackers and Jasmina is not in that group as her case is still unsolved.

But if her future is in doubt, Jasmina's mind is made up. "I'm not going to take my children to Bijeljina. I told my children when I die, don't take my bones to Bijeljina. I don't want to hear about Bijeljina. It doesn't exist for me," she said, flashing anger for the first time in a lengthy interview.

Then she shows a picture of her daughter, a beautiful young woman, but even that causes Jasmina pain as she remembers how the soldiers picked her out. "I was beautiful once. It cost me my life."

Impeachment Vigil -ONE YEAR outside (and inside) Blumenauers OfficeMood: celebratoryNow Playing: torture is accepted by this congress - a skit by the Individuales For JusticeTopic: FAILURE by the GOVERNMENT

<videos>

2 parts -

Film of the Impeachment Vigil Protest

on July 17 2008

This marks the one solid year of weekly protesting for accountability and justice outside (and inside) our Congressman's Earl Blumenauer's office

Here is a 2 part video skit of how our Congressman ignores Bush and this administrations use of torture and allows the madness to continue.

One Solid Year Of Weekly Protesting For Impeachment 2007-2008

This marks the one solid year of weekly protesting for accountability and justice outside (and inside) our Congressman's Earl Blumenauer's office

This skit pokes fun at the obvious facts that the USA <citizens> accept Bush's tolerance and accept that Bush and the Democrat-controlled-Congress will allow torture and human right lawbreaking to continue. The skit also pokes fun at the House Rep in Dist #3 here in Oregon who finds it not illegal or morally wrong to let the Bush administration continue doing what ever they want <sic> in-spite of written laws and our Constitution of the United States?

Here is the two part videos from the event on July 17 outside Earl Blumenauer's Office. The Individuals for Justice are average people who are coming to the Congressman's office to encourage him to obey the Constitution and to hold this White House Administration accountable for all the lies and misuse of power that they have stolen or flat out taken from all of us.

This group has seen members come and go and the number on site rise and fall, but one thing to be counted on is this vigil is not going to let Earl Blumenauer "pretend there is no issue at hand".

The Individuals for Justice show up weekly to let everyone know it that area where the House Representative District 3 is located that we want the Constitution followed and obeyed. We want accountability! We want honest government! We don't want Torture, spying on citizens without a warrant, and we don't want illegal wars causing hundred of thousands to die or be wounded or be refugees!

In these two videos you will see that the, sick humor about torture, is a reality the USA now wears with pride and obvious acceptance. Our Government is not stopping it and our Congress is ignoring the pleas to get a backbone and stand tall & make it stop or to hold the lawbreaking administration responsible.

The fact that as we "joke about it" ... is proof we now live in a sick twisted times, torture by the USA is OK and here to stay, for Congress cant stop it and sits idle as the Constitution disintegrates

There should be "no joke about torture" .... but here we are! There should be "nothing funny about it"... yet who will stop the insanity? ...we are joking that the insanity is tolerated and "approved/allowed" and especially by our Representative! There should not be any torture going on, yet Bush and Company continues, and Earl wont even try to stop them?

There should be a government in place that will not tolerate this sick shit, that is the kind of leadership I want. But as we chide Blumenauer about it .... he must see nothing wrong with it... and a year latter he still says say "I did everything I could to stop him" ...but that is not true!

So get your popcorn and sit down ....The USA and Individuals for Justice are proud to present the; "Torture Video Extravaganza Skit and One Year Anniversary of citizens trying to make it all stop."

Here is the two part YouTube video set from 729 Oregon Street on July 17 2008 at 12 noon in Portland Oregon

Fannie,

Freddie,

Food

andFuel

The financial crisis deepens with the nationalization of IndyMac and the likely bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie May by the US taxpayer. The financial crisis has company as inflation, and in particular huge increases in global food and energy prices, enters the fray.

The American economic model has been discredited and the American century has lasted but a few decades. These developments have and will further open up a new period in the struggle between capital and labor on the world stage and the US working class will have a major role to play as it re-connects with its militant traditions.

With the possible collapse of the two giants of US mortgage financing, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the world economy faces an uncertain future. What is certain is that the already indebted US taxpayer will be asked to foot some, and possibly all, of the bill.

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have liabilities of $5.3 trillion (five thousand billion) in mortgages, about 38 per cent of US gross domestic product and almost half of the US total mortgage market of $12 trillion. In addition, they also account for 70% of all new mortgages. Their collapse is unthinkable as the US mortgage market would screech to a halt prolonging an already disastrous situation in housing and worsen an already fragile global system. Non US investors hold around $1 trillion in debt issued by what are known as Government Sponsored Enterprises or GSE's, and a loss of confidence in what up to now has been a relatively risk free home for the coupon clippers' capital could result in a massive sell off adding to the crisis even more; things are not looking good.

This relatively risk free environment exists because it has been assumed by the coupon clippers that their investments were backed up by the US taxpayer as the GSE's have a $2.5 billion line of credit with the US treasury. Surely it was impossible to lose without the US economy collapsing altogether; but that is not such a distant possibility anymore.

The present problem is simply explained; the two companies capital on hand is insufficient to support their liabilities, hence, the threat of insolvency looms. In order to keep them solvent they have to have an injection of capital in a period when the owners of it are refusing to let it go. Part of the already existing crisis is what the media refers to as a credit crunch but what is in actuality a strike of capital by those that own it; the capitalist class. So private capital is hard to come by. The coupon clippers need a sign from the government that their investments are safe and that it (the taxpayer) will cover them if they are to be expected to continue to buy Fannie and Freddie debt and not sell off what they already have.

Earlier this week, the US government re-assured the coupon clippers that their investments will be safe by promising to inject taxpayer money as needed as well as promising to use public money to buy a stake in the two enterprises. Numerous mouthpieces of capital, from imbeciles like McCain and Bush to the more astute theoreticians of the class, have made it clear that they cannot allow these behemoths to fail and will nationalize them (take them under state ownership) in total if necessary. The mere thought of this terrifies the bourgeois whose media and education system bombards us daily with the idea that the market is god and has the answer for all things.

An illuminating part of this debacle and one that confirms the power of socialist ideas and the appeal of collective action, is that there is already a plan afoot to nationalize the two enterprises if necessary. But this is a defeat for the ideology of the market that it is the answer to all things; that it is the solution to all our ills. So dangerous is the idea that such huge enterprises may have to be nationalized in order to survive that the term the government is using is "conservatorship". Even Clive Crook of the Financial Times has a laugh at this one. "A plan to take over the enterprises exists," he writes, But "Rather than nationalizing them—which would be un American and could be mistaken for socialism—they would be placed in "conservatorship". It is the same thing, except that it could allow the government to pretend the GSE's liabilities were not its own." (FT 7-14-08) The other aspect here is an attempt to hide from the American working class the fact they we are being asked to pay for yet another crisis of capitalism; they took the profit in the good times and will leave us with the bill in as the well runs dry. Fannie and Freddie's problems come on the heels of the Bear Stearns bail out and the nationalizing last week of IndyMac, the US's second largest savings bank.

When socialists talk of taking in to public ownership the dominant corporations of society and running them under workers control and management or even nationalizing them within a capitalist economy, the "red scare" is hurled at us. We can hurl a scare at them. If it is OK to nationalize the debt of these companies, we can nationalize companies themselves. Unfortunately, the heads of organized Labor will pretty much remain silent on this issue or echo the solutions put forward by those who have caused the problem in the first place.

The US government pledge to protect the GSE's and the coupon clippers' investments has calmed things a bit but each day the crisis worsens; the two mortgage lenders lost 25% of their value today as investors took a hike. But even a total bail out will have serious consequences for the US and world economy.

A government takeover of Fannie and Freddie would add $5 trillion to the present US debt of $9 trillion and would also undermine confidence in the ability of the US to continue to pay its debts. This in turn would also increasing borrowing costs; it will also further undermine an already weakened US dollar. The US taxpayer is already overburdened with debt and is feeling the strain of increased food and fuel prices as well as all the consequences of the housing crisis and the predatory wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Freddie and Fannie crisis will strengthen an increasingly global view that the US model of rampant privatization has been totally discredited and that the US consumer cannot continue to be the consumer of last resort. This will have serious consequences for exporting countries like China that rely heavily on the US consumer to purchase its products.

This financial crisis is spreading and is now accompanied by a crisis in food and energy. The dramatic rise in food and energy prices is a serious threat to the stability of the world economic system-----of global capitalism. Global corn prices have risen 138% over the past three years while food prices as a whole have increased 83% during the same period. The bourgeois are extremely concerned about this. The problem with dramatic increases in the cost of food and oil is that there is not really an alternative to these commodities---people have to eat and stay warm; and oil is a crucial ingredient in the manufacture of many commodities as well as a necessary component in agricultural production. Food production is dependent on oil for fertilizer, machinery and the transportation of food in the world market.

There have been food riots in over 30 countries and fishermen, small farmers, wine producers, truckers and others have all participated in protests and demonstrations against rising fuel prices. The capitalist class is concerned that things will get out of hand. They are concerned not so much because people are starving, rather that instability and political action will interfere with profit taking.

Commenting on the food riots, Josette Sheehan, Executive Director of the World Food Program says that the protests are, "Stark reminders that food insecurity threatens not only the hungry but peace and stability itself." She added that, "Only seven meals separated civilization from potential anarchy." (FT 6-21-08).

The food crisis is much more acute in the emerging economies of the former colonial world as food consumption is a much higher percentage of family income than in the advanced capitalist countries.

Percentage of family income spent on food (Source: IMF)

US Brazil China Kenya Bangladesh 10% 20% 30% 50% 65%

Alongside the rise in food prices has been the rapid increase in the cost of energy connected obviously to the rising cost of oil. The head of Russia's Gazprom as well as other experts in the field have predicted $500 a barrel oil by 2010.

The rising cost has forced governments in the emerging economies to lower or completely eliminate fuel subsidies. China has long shunned pressure to cut fuel subsidies which western capitalists feel distorts prices, but for these governments that compete in the global economy with a huge pool of low waged workers, fuel subsidies are used to keep a lid on social unrest. But China was forced to remove subsidies in June causing an immediate 18% increase in the price of gasoline and a 5% increase in the price of electricity.

Given the over consumption in the US, workers can cut back to a degree in response to food and gas prices. The US department of transportation reported that Americans drove 1.4bn fewer highway miles in April 2008 compared to 2007 while miles driven on all US roads during the same period declined 1.8%. The term "staycation" has become a popular noun to describe how fewer people are leaving home for their holidays these days. Americans aren't known as global travelers but even the trip up to the lake is getting pricey. But this has its limits as public transportation in the US is dismal and many municipal systems do not have the capacity to cope with extra passengers.

But living in Bangladesh or other countries of the former colonial world where upwards of 50% or 60% of family income is spent on food leaves little room for maneuver. This is of grave concern to the coupon clippers as it is likely that the riots, protests and strikes will spread. There were demonstrations in Peru in July against free market policies and opposition to the market is growing throughout the world. It is inevitable that movements of this nature despite being wracked with confusion ultimately tend to draw political conclusions and seek alternatives to the present system. The ideas of socialism begin to re-emerge after being driven deep in to the consciousness since the collapse of the totalitarian regimes of the Stalinist world.

The assault on US living standards will intensify as a crisis not of our creation is shifted on to the backs of workers and the middle class. The argument that there is no money in society will be used to drive down wages, cut social services and will be used as an excuse by the heads of organized Labor to explain their refusal to lead a fightback and challenge the offensive of capital; but this false argument cannot hold up forever in the face of objective reality.

The situation is quite grim and highly explosive; police were called to an IndyMac branch today in Southern California as tempers flared between customers wanting to withdraw their money from the collapsed institution. One has to be cautious making predictions as global capitalism has massive resources and reserves but the present crisis is without doubt the worst since the great depression and could get worse yet. It is quite possible that we are at a turning point, particularly here in the US where the crisis is most acute and the class struggle has been relatively quiet by historical standards due to the complete capitulation of the leaders of the working class to the offensive of capital. At some point the damn will burst and we are certainly witnessing some serious cracks in the monolith.

Dennis Kucinich Introduces Impeachment on 7.15.08Mood: incredulousNow Playing: Demanding Impeachment in The House Of RepresentativesTopic: FAILURE by the GOVERNMENT

Impeachment Resolution: First Reading Today

Dear Friends,

This afternoon, at approximately 5 p.m. (EDT), the Clerk of the House of Representatives will give the first reading of the Article of Impeachment of President George Bush. Article One charges the President with deceiving Congress with fabricated threats of Iraq WMDs to fraudulently obtain support for an authorization of the use of military force against Iraq.

Once the Clerk reads the bill, I will move to refer the bill to the Judiciary Committee for hearings. I believe the American people have a right to an open airing of the charges against this President. Did he or did he not lie to take us into a war? I believe the evidence is overwhelming that President Bush knew that Iraq was not an imminent threat, was not in possession of WMDs at the time, and had nothing to do with 911 or with al Queda's role in 911. And yet, despite having facts to the contrary, he took the U.S. into war with devastating consequences for our troops, our nation, and the people of Iraq. Congress must hold hearings.

There can be no greater offense of a President or a Commander in Chief than to conjure a war based on lies to Congress, to the troops, and to the people of America.

I love our country with all my heart and I intend to persist until America is America again.

On This DayJuly 3, 1998 - A U.S. district court ruled that encryption software did not qualify for protection under the First Amendment. The judge ruled that because code is indecipherable to most people, it did not qualify as speech.

These days, it's good to know where your food's coming from, and what's in it. Ideally, it's even better to know who grows and prepares it for market.

I came across the Local Harvest web site when looking for natural care item for my cat, and also because I have a preference for local, artisan, small-businesses and farms. Local Harvest brings that right to your desktop.

The Local Harvest web site says, "Use our website to find farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area, where you can buy produce, grass-fed meats, and many other goodies. Want to support this great web site? Shop in our catalog for things you can't find locally!"

** "Grace fills empty spaces, but it can only enter where there is a void to receive it, and it is grace itself, which makes this void." ~ Simone Weil

** "It is impossible to move in two directions at the same time. As long as you fight against what you don’t want, you will make no progress toward what you desire." ~ Suzanne Zoglio

** "Live a life and let everything unfold -- Cease struggling and let go, let go. Open up and allow everything to fall into place. All you have to do is to Be. Stop trying so hard, for this can create a blockage where there need be none." ~ Eileen Caddy

** "There is a soul force in the universe, which, if we permit it, will flow through us and produce miraculous results." ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Greetings, There certainly is a lot of 'doom-saying' these days. As Jonathan Cainer, the witty and optimistic British astrologer, says, "There is a boom for doom-and-gloom!" We could easily collect ample evidence for doom-and-gloom -- we can work ourselves into a panic of fear and scarcity -- if we want to do that. But is that really where we want to invest our focus and energy? Is that really where we want to invest our power? Is that what we want to see more of? My point is this -- and it's something I've been reflecting on and living into for quite awhile now, and sometimes struggling with, too: the questions we ask and the thoughts and actions we choose are an investment of our energy and power. As we go through our days, are we investing more in Light-and-Love or Gloom-and-Doom? It's not an 'airy fairy' or 'woo woo' thing to contemplate, because we're talking about real thoughts, real actions, and real effects on quality of life -- our own, and that of others. We've all heard the proverbial wisdom sayings: What we resist, persists. When you fight what you DON'T want, you actually give it power and perpetuate the same. Where your thoughts are, your experience follows. Where your heart is, there will be your treasure. And so on. In the higher martial arts, the best strategy isn't to fight AGAINST your opponent, which is said to give the opponent more energy. Rather, the master yields, to allow the opponent's energy to flow through her and dissipate. By doing that, he gains energy while, ideally, neutralizing violence and harm. The same is true for the things that trouble us -- and there are a lot of those things right now in this world. We can see them, and witness them as a matter of dignity, and yet not identify with and fight against them. Rather, our seeing of them becomes reason to clarify and direct our focus and energy towards that which we are FOR -- that which we want to invest in, create, perpetuate, and see more of. What breaks and wakes our hearts, what makes us angry, and what stirs our souls from sleep-walking offers huge clues to our purpose and potentials for joyful, healing service. To realize this is to take your power back, from wherever it's drained off to. To lift the heavy, dark, wet blanket off the light that you are, or to put the lamp on the table so the light can benefit all who see it. Marianne Williamson wrote, and was quoted by Nelson Mandela, that it isn't our darkness that frightens us, but our light. Our light is our Love, our power, our authentic Nature, the Divine Spark of uniqueness and authenticity that expresses as each one of us. It's our purpose to find real, joyful ways to express it in the world. This is a precious gift, and no matter how long it's rested dormant, no matter how many layers of 'old stuff' it's been buried under, and no matter how confused or fearsome things might seem, Love-Light's power to shine is stronger than anything else. Sometimes the 'dormant' stage has really been one of gestating and gathering strength for something that needs to be rooted, steady, and wise at the right time. Our world is in need of healing and a new, more empowering vision, and requires every Divine Spark that can be lighted, awakened into its Divine nature, and put to service, consciously, now. As we tap into our own inner light, that Divine Spark, so many new insights will surface, new intuitions, new creativity, new opportunities, and new ways to open up things which seem closed shut. We ripple that light-power outward in a wave that is more healing and powerful than you know. There are many things you can do -- little things and big things -- that add up to a big ripple effect. What do you want to Love into being? Put your energy there. Come as you are, and let your light shine. This little light of mineï¿½ Blessings, Joy and Happy Independence Day (wherever you may be!) - may you free yourself of all that keeps you small and hidden!

The declaration will be printed on or about July 4, 2008, as a signature ad in The New York Times. Nearly 600 individuals and organizations from 48 U.S. states and territories signed on to the ad. Click here to view the ad as it will appear in The New York Times (PDF). You can also view a flier with just the text of the declaration here (PDF).

audio and video

To help spread the word about A Declaration for Our Times, we have created audio and video recordings of the declaration, each of which runs 3 minutes 22 seconds. Download the audio (mp3) version of the declaration for use by any radio station or programmer. The video is available on YouTube now, or you can watch it below.

It was week 50 for the Impeachment Vigil It was also the Funeral for the fourth Amendment A ceremony was held outside Earl Blumenauer's Office and it proceeded to the Federal Building in downtown Portland Oregon. This event was for FISA spying immunities and permission given to the president to spy on citizens of the US with no warrants or respect to the 4th

Funeral for the 4th Amendment video 6-26-2008

Over a dozen Impeachment activists contribute to a mock / real Funeral for the Beloved 4th Amendment

Different testimonies are given from citizens who love their freedom and the Constitution

There was also Music, and then a procession up 3rd Avenue past all the Federal and Justice Buildings

A sad day as the Democrat controlled Congress sends to the grave our right to privacy

The fourth amendment dies before our eyes....

The Week 50 Impeachment Vigil by the Individuals For Justice provides this ceremony out of love, respect, and grievance

Scientist Is Paid Millions

by U.S. in Anthrax Suit

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department announced Friday that it would pay $4.6 million to settle a lawsuit filed by Steven J. Hatfill, a former Army biodefense researcher intensively investigated as a “person of interest” in the deadly anthrax letters of 2001.

The settlement, consisting of $2.825 million in cash and an annuity paying Dr. Hatfill $150,000 a year for 20 years, brings to an end a five-year legal battle that had recently threatened a reporter with large fines for declining to name sources she said she did not recall.

Dr. Hatfill, who worked at the Army’s laboratory at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md., in the late 1990s, was the subject of a flood of news media coverage beginning in mid-2002, after television cameras showed Federal Bureau of Investigation agents in biohazard suits searching his apartment near the Army base. He was later named a “person of interest” in the case by then Attorney General John Ashcroft, speaking on national television.

In a news conference in August 2002, Dr. Hatfill tearfully denied that he had anything to do with the anthrax letters and said irresponsible news media coverage based on government leaks had destroyed his reputation.

Dr. Hatfill’s lawsuit, filed in 2003, accused F.B.I. agents and Justice Department officials involved in the criminal investigation of the anthrax mailings of leaking information about him to the news media in violation of the Privacy Act. In order to prove their case, his lawyers took depositions from key F.B.I. investigators, senior officials and a number of reporters who had covered the investigation.

Mark Grannis, a lawyer for Dr. Hatfill, said his client was pleased with the settlement.

“The good news is that we still live in a country where a guy who’s been horribly abused can go to a judge and say ‘I need your help,’ and maybe it takes a while, but he gets justice,” Mr. Grannis said.

The settlement, Mr. Grannis said, “means that Steven Hatfill is finally an ex-person of interest.”

In a written statement, Mr. Grannis and Dr. Hatfill’s other lawyers said, “We can only hope that the individuals and institutions involved are sufficiently chastened by this episode to deter similar destruction of private citizens in the future — and that we will all read anonymously sourced news reports with a great deal more skepticism.”

The settlement called new attention to the fact that nearly seven years after the toxic letters were mailed, killing five people and sickening at least 17 others, the case has not been solved.

A Justice Department spokesman, Brian Roehrkasse, said in a statement that the government admitted no liability but decided settlement was “in the best interest of the United States.”

“The government remains resolute in its investigation into the anthrax attacks, which killed five individuals and sickened others after lethal anthrax powder was sent through the United States mail,” Mr. Roehrkasse said.

An F.B.I. spokesman, Jason Pack, said the anthrax investigation “is one of the largest and most complex investigations ever conducted by law enforcement” and is currently being pursued by a squad of more than 20 agents of the F.B.I. and the Postal Inspection Service.

“Solving this case is a top priority for the F.B.I. and for the family members of the victims who were killed,” Mr. Pack said. “Our commitment is undiminished.”

But Representative Rush Holt, a New Jersey Democrat whose district was the site of a postal box believed to have been used in the attacks, said he would press Robert S. Mueller III, director of the F.B.I., for more answers about the status of the long-stalled case.

“As today’s settlement announcement confirms, this case was botched from the very beginning,” Mr. Holt said. “The F.B.I. did a poor job of collecting evidence, and then inappropriately focused on one individual as a suspect for too long, developing an erroneous theory of the case that has led to this very expensive dead end.”

Dr. Hatfill subpoenaed a number of Washington journalists to try to determine which federal officials had spoken to the news media about the case against him in possible violation of federal privacy laws.

Toni Locy, a former legal affairs reporter for USA Today who wrote several articles about the case, was held in contempt of court, facing fines of up to $5,000 a day from Judge Reggie Walton over her refusal to name her sources, and her case is pending before an appeals court. Ms. Locy said Friday that she was relieved by the developments but that it was too soon to celebrate.

“I hope this means that this ordeal is over and that I can get on with my life,” said Ms. Locy, who will begin teaching legal reporting at Washington and Lee University in the fall.

She said Dr. Hatfill’s lawyers said they no longer needed her testimony, though she had not been told whether the contempt order against her had been lifted.

The outcome differed significantly from the settlement of a similar case involving Wen Ho Lee, a former nuclear scientist once suspected of espionage. In that case, five news organizations joined the government’s settlement, agreeing to pay a total of $750,000 to prevent their reporters from having to testify about their sources.

Ms. Locy said that a federal mediator had tried to get Gannett, which owns USA Today, to negotiate some type of settlement with Dr. Hatfill’s lawyers, but that it had refused

She called the result an important affirmation of journalists’ ability to use confidential sources in gathering material on important news stories. “I protected my sources, and that’s important,” she said.

Dr. Hatfill also sued The New York Times and the columnist Nicholas D. Kristof, saying that columns Mr. Kristof wrote about the case had libeled him by suggesting that he might be the anthrax mailer. That lawsuit was dismissed last year, but Dr. Hatfill has appealed the dismissal.

The former Army scientist also sued Vanity Fair and the author of an article about the case in the magazine, Donald Foster, as well as Reader’s Digest, which published a condensed version. That case was settled last year on confidential terms.

Dr. Hatfill, 54, grew up in Illinois but studied medicine in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. After returning to the United States in the early 1990s, he worked at the National Institutes of Health and the United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick. In applying for those jobs, he claimed to have had a Ph.D. from a South African university that his lawyers later admitted he had not earned. .

After Dr. Hatfill came under suspicion in the anthrax case in 2002, an F.B.I. surveillance team began following him everywhere, and a small motorcade sometimes trailed his car around Washington.

In May 2003, an F.B.I. surveillance car ran over Dr. Hatfill’s foot in Georgetown as he approached the car to take the driver’s picture. He was given a ticket for “walking to create a hazard” and was fined $5.

Look into the sewers - "Wow, I never knew so much about my community"Mood: not sureNow Playing: Does Your City Toke or Do Blow well your sewer pipes no the answerTopic: ENVIRONMENTALZ3 Readers here is a Mother Jones article that is interesting if not a (pun) "shitty report" on drugs and poisons that are filling up our sewer systems. The link to the MJ article is here:

In the quest to discover your neighbors' vices, the only data more valuable than Google search records might be the records you leave in your toilet. In cities around the world, scientists have begun to measure concentrations of illegal drugs at sewage treatment plants, hoping to get a sense of what people are sending down the pipes. Results so far indicate that Vegas-goers do more meth than some of their midwestern counterparts, Angelenos outdo the Old World in cocaine use, Londoners fancy heroin more than Italians, and everybody smokes a whole lotta pot.

Clearly, the most obvious place for this information is an online quiz site: "If your city were an illegal drug, which one would it be?" Beyond that, the real-life applications aren't yet clear. Environmentalists are interested in the potential consequences of so many chemicals in the pipes—who wants to find out that, in addition to being filled with prescription drugs, their drinking water is also laced with coke? And no city wants to broadcast that its citizenry is, uh, high (San Diego has already refused researchers access to its sewage). The scientists who conducted the European study (.pdf) think it will be most useful as a real-time data collection tool, not to mention a vast improvement over just asking people how many drugs they do—the study notes that the concentration of cocaine in Milan's sewage suggests that actual use is more than double the reported rate.

Such information could certainly help law enforcement and public health officials improve their approach to combating drug use, but it's easy to see how things could get out of hand. What happens when the DEA shows up at your door with a warrant and a urine sample you didn't know you were giving? You laugh, but the scientist who pioneered this idea believes it would be possible to analyze sewge at the level of "a community, a street, even a house." In that way, studying poop is like studying Google searches— you'll probably find out more about your neighbors than you wanted, or needed, to know.

Second pregnant US soldier found dead

The US military was rocked today by the "suspicious" death of a 23-year-old pregnant US soldier, the second female service member this year to die before carrying her child to term.

Megan Lynn Touma, a US army dental specialist, was found dead in a hotel room in North Carolina, not far from where the body of 20-year-old US marine corporal Maria Lauterbach was discovered in January.

Authorities released a statement calling Touma's death "suspicious" and told local media they are opening an investigation. Seven months pregnant and a five-time medal winner, Touma was found when hotel guests reported a strange odour coming from her room.

"The loss of Specialist Touma is very tragic and our heartfelt sympathy and prayers go out to the loved ones she leaves behind," the 18th Airbourne Corps at Fort Bragg, where Touma arrived for duty earlier this month, said in a statement.

Lauterbach disappeared while eight months pregnant and planning to testify to her alleged rape by a fellow soldier, US marine corporal Cesar Armando Lauren. Lauterbach's body was later found on Lauren's property, and he is facing charges in her murder.

The US military has struggled for years with a growing epidemic of sexual assaults on female soldiers. Sex crime reports by service members increased by 40% in 2005 and again by 24% in 2006 before declining slightly in 2007, according to the Pentagon.

Of the 2,688

sex crimes reported

last year, 60% were rapes and

72% involved military victims.

An accompanying survey found that 34% of female soldiers and 6% of male soldiers had experienced unwanted sexual harassment while on active duty.